Riyad Mahrez - The great Artist

[lcfc sheff]

you'd think they're going for sanchez instead?

[ZeGuy]

3 hours ago, volpeazzurro said:

If he's to improve with Pep it will involve a lot more hard work in training and the match compared with Leicester. I  do think that a change in manager in Puel is a positive thing for him though. Looking at the players Puel has worked with that have a lot of respect for him,  if Marhez doesn't improve then it will be down to himself,  he's got no excuses now.

I fully agree, knowing Puel's background and what he achieved with Ben Arfa (who, like Silva, didn't play for 6 months by the way), i think that it can only comes good. He has absolutely no excuse now. I also don't believe MCFC are after him, they're loaded with quality players. You never though and i still hope he'll stay.

 

We could have a really good team in January.

 

Edited 23 November 2017 by ZeGuy

[Sly]

Slot straight into a Champions League squad slot. He’ll be gone in January.

[HighPeakFox]

4 hours ago, Cardiff_Fox said:

Surprised no-one else mentioned the three minutes that Mahrez spent speaking to Pep (who for the majority of it largely covered his mouth - which was in direct contrast to his convo with Iborra) after full time on Saturday. It was clear what was happening and poor conduct by Pep. 

Do you actually mean 'it was clear what I have assumed it to have been about'?

[Guest]

On 20/11/2017 at 10:19, oldbluefox said:

I must be one of the few who doesn't think Mahrez is as good as many make him out to be. He is undoubtedly a good player but how often does he breeze past two or three tackles and then get himself crowded out when there are options to get rid? How many times does he get himself into a good shooting position only to take another touch and the chance is gone? Watching him last season, and this season he seems to be making the same mistakes time and time again and ultimately losing possession.

No doubting he is a good player who was outstanding in our Premiership winning season but I feel he has been sussed out and now presents little else. With his close ball control and mazy runs he should be opening up defences, taking defenders out before making the killing pass but it just is not happening as much as it could and should.

I sometimes wonder whether it is the players' faults or something to do with training.

Agreed. for all his skill  and great passing he doesn't see the passing opportunities well enough or he dliberately ignores them. Even against ManCity Iborra was open on the front line two or three times and Mahrez took the ball on his own and lost it. Iborra waved to him several times. If he could get his head up and make the early pass those 2/3 defenders would be lost. Teams (managers) have worked out that as skilfull as he is he doesn't get his head up often enough for the pass and can therefore be crowded off of the ball

 

11 hours ago, Sly said:

Slot straight into a Champions League squad slot. He’ll be gone in January.

Will he get more games than Drinky though?

[Countryfox]

18 hours ago, Cardiff_Fox said:

Surprised no-one else mentioned the three minutes that Mahrez spent speaking to Pep (who for the majority of it largely covered his mouth - which was in direct contrast to his convo with Iborra) after full time on Saturday. It was clear what was happening and poor conduct by Pep. 

 

14 hours ago, HighPeakFox said:

Do you actually mean 'it was clear what I have assumed it to have been about'?

 

Quite right Peaky ...   people just jump to assumptions !   I personally think that Pep (football manager on look out for a bargain), and Mahrez (want away talented footballer last week, happy here now this week), were probably discussing what they are buying their wives for Christmas ..   no wonder Pep covered his mouth ...  what if his wife was watching and could lip read ! ...   that would have blown it !!   

[Reg Vardy]

3 hours ago, FIF said:

Agreed. for all his skill  and great passing he doesn't see the passing opportunities well enough or he dliberately ignores them. Even against ManCity Iborra was open on the front line two or three times and Mahrez took the ball on his own and lost it. Iborra waved to him several times. If he could get his head up and make the early pass those 2/3 defenders would be lost. Teams (managers) have worked out that as skilfull as he is he doesn't get his head up often enough for the pass and can therefore be crowded off of the ball

 

Will he get more games than Drinky though?

Is he really bothered?He will play at some point. Both players will earn at least £50k a week more by moving.......we'd all turn that down now wouldn't we.....?

[HighPeakFox]

1 hour ago, Countryfox said:

 

 

Quite right Peaky ...   people just jump to assumptions !   I personally think that Pep (football manager on look out for a bargain), and Mahrez (want away talented footballer last week, happy here now this week), were probably discussing what they are buying their wives for Christmas ..   no wonder Pep covered his mouth ...  what if his wife was watching and could lip read ! ...   that would have blown it !!   

Or maybe they felt it was none of our business what they say to each other. I find it hard to believe either is naive enough to discuss a possible transfer in such a blatant way. 

[foxinsocks]

All sports folk put their hands over their mouths.  At school it was a dead give away the the lovely miss bailey always knew who was talking

[RoyFox]

20 hours ago, Cardiff_Fox said:

Surprised no-one else mentioned the three minutes that Mahrez spent speaking to Pep (who for the majority of it largely covered his mouth - which was in direct contrast to his convo with Iborra) after full time on Saturday. It was clear what was happening and poor conduct by Pep. 

Iborra and Pep were speaking in Spanish, hence they didn’t need to cover their mouths.

[Guest]

Will he ever pass the ball to Gray?

[foxfanazer]

Maybe Roma weren’t low balling us after all

[Wymsey]

Think he needs to grow up a bit, both on and off the pitch.

On: stop being selfish and pass to those in better positions than him around the opposition box.

Off: He should acknowledge the manager, even if he's annoyed with own performance etc; Puel won't be having this type of attitude that Mahrez displayed towards him and the bench when he got substituted. No-one is bigger than the club.

[foxinsocks]

5 hours ago, pmcla26 said:

It's amazing how he's gone from being the best player in the premier league to not even the best player at Leicester in 18 months

Coz he is distrscted by his agents talk .... coz he is desperate to have impact on games and so hed stoppef taking the best options.  He meeds a councillor. Its in his head...his touch is great 

[deep blue]

Mahrez has the ability to slot amazing balls through to attackers, seeing angles that no one else does. It's easy to forget that cos he seems to have lost the ability over the last year or two. Don't get the feeling he's looking up, or ahead, to do that these days. It's all about what he can do on the ball to showcase himself, rather than what he can do for the team.

 

I agree with others here, that he's got above himself and has allowed a poor agent to lead him astray. I don't believe a transfer elsewhere will necessarily change that - he has to sort his head out first. I'm not even sure that he's so wanted by other clubs as they can see that he's nothing special at the moment.

 

After all, for all the talk, only Roma came in for him over the summer, even with him hanging around waiting desperately on the last day of the window.

[Koke]

9 hours ago, Wymeswold fox said:

Think he needs to grow up a bit, both on and off the pitch.

On: stop being selfish and pass to those in better positions than him around the opposition box.

Off: He should acknowledge the manager, even if he's annoyed with own performance etc; Puel won't be having this type of attitude that Mahrez displayed towards him and the bench when he got substituted. No-one is bigger than the club.

 

Mahrez has an attitude problem. He thinks he's bigger than the club. Selfish on the pitch and throws his dummy out when subbed.

 

I wouldn't blame Puel if he benched him for a gane or two.

[StriderHiryu]

2 hours ago, Koke said:

 

Mahrez has an attitude problem. He thinks he's bigger than the club. Selfish on the pitch and throws his dummy out when subbed.

 

I wouldn't blame Puel if he benched him for a gane or two.

Agreed. It's SO frustrating because he is so close to being back to his best. Looking at the West Ham game, he was given license to drift between the lines and from side to side - the free role if you like. He got into lethal positions time and time again and drove at their defence, which was awesome. But he let it all go to waste by being so greedy. I can think of at least three occasions when he could have played in Gray, Albrighton or Vardy who would have at the least been able to test the goalkeeper. It could have been game over before half time!

 

I think following this one will be interesting I think Puel has probably managed to get through to him on some level by giving him this role and probably telling him the team will be built around him. I actually think it was fantastic management of him to pull him off quite early yesterday and to replace him with Chilwell because that says "you are not above the law Riyad" and putting on our most inexperienced player in place of him hammers the point home. Mahrez shrugged his shoulders and wouldn't look at the manager, but equally Puel wouldn't look at him! Interesting dynamic taking place there.

 

Puel managed to get the best out of Hatem Ben Arfa who is a very similar character. In fact it might even be a character we see at the KP in the not so distant future, so it will be interesting to see what happens next.

 

Riyad is one of my all time favourite players for this club because of what he can do with a football. But for the love of god can he stop being so greedy and pass the ball! When we won the title he played in Vardy so many times, but these days he wont do it, probably because he thinks it means he isn't the star of the team. But for FFS, he won both the PFA and supporters player of the year award even though he didnt score as many as Vardy! Can't he get that through his head?!

[volpeazzurro]

On 23/11/2017 at 20:14, ZeGuy said:

I fully agree, knowing Puel's background and what he achieved with Ben Arfa (who, like Silva, didn't play for 6 months by the way), i think that it can only comes good. He has absolutely no excuse now. I also don't believe MCFC are after him, they're loaded with quality players. You never though and i still hope he'll stay.

 

We could have a really good team in January.

 

Agreed. I've seen positive articles about Puel by Henry, Hazard and Treseguet in the past on how he helped them. It will take a little time but I do think we'v got a seriously good manager on our hands. Although we missed out on the 3 points last night there were some very good passages of play and better ball retention. Perhaps Marhez will buy into another dream.

[BaggyPants]

On 20/11/2017 at 09:19, oldbluefox said:

I must be one of the few who doesn't think Mahrez is as good as many make him out to be. He is undoubtedly a good player but how often does he breeze past two or three tackles and then get himself crowded out when there are options to get rid? How many times does he get himself into a good shooting position only to take another touch and the chance is gone? Watching him last season, and this season he seems to be making the same mistakes time and time again and ultimately losing possession.

No doubting he is a good player who was outstanding in our Premiership winning season but I feel he has been sussed out and now presents little else. With his close ball control and mazy runs he should be opening up defences, taking defenders out before making the killing pass but it just is not happening as much as it could and should.

I sometimes wonder whether it is the players' faults or something to do with training.

I think that he needs to stop listening to and believing all the hype which surrounds him, and to focus upon becoming a better player, and the same applies to Gray. We are supposed to be a team on the pitch and not one man with 10 others there solely for  his convenience. I think that January could turn out to be more of a watershed than we may be anticipating, especially with Silva becoming eligible to play. It will be interesting to see what Puel does and to see if he has any tangible influence on the recruitment and transfer out of players.

[An Away Move]

In The Guardian today:-

6) Mahrez treading water at Leicester

Riyad Mahrez showed passion and edge at the London Stadium, albeit quite a lot of it was reserved for the moment Claude Puel substituted him, drawing a notably sulky walk from the pitch. Mahrez was “disappointed” Puel said, but the fact is Arthur Masuaku and Cheikhou Kouyaté had chased him down and pushed him to the edge of this game. Mahrez has been a wonderful player for Leicester, and he showed flashes of his brilliance on the ball against West Ham. But eight goals and seven assists in a year and a half since winning player of the year is evidence of a man treading water. Arsenal, Manchester City, Manchester United, Internazionale and Barcelona have all, reportedly, shown varying degrees of interest in the Algerian. It would surely be best for everyone now if that precious, slightly fragile talent was cashed in on sooner rather than later and Mahrez asked to stretch himself a little more. Barney Ronay

[daddylonglegs]

19 minutes ago, SydenhamFox said:

In The Guardian today:-

6) Mahrez treading water at Leicester

Riyad Mahrez showed passion and edge at the London Stadium, albeit quite a lot of it was reserved for the moment Claude Puel substituted him, drawing a notably sulky walk from the pitch. Mahrez was “disappointed” Puel said, but the fact is Arthur Masuaku and Cheikhou Kouyaté had chased him down and pushed him to the edge of this game. Mahrez has been a wonderful player for Leicester, and he showed flashes of his brilliance on the ball against West Ham. But eight goals and seven assists in a year and a half since winning player of the year is evidence of a man treading water. Arsenal, Manchester City, Manchester United, Internazionale and Barcelona have all, reportedly, shown varying degrees of interest in the Algerian. It would surely be best for everyone now if that precious, slightly fragile talent was cashed in on sooner rather than later and Mahrez asked to stretch himself a little more. Barney Ronay

Good point, well made. 

 

Everyone is so desperate for him to rediscover his form of 2015/16... but he's doubled up on, and has been ever since about February 2016, and he's not been as effective since. In my eyes he's still absolutely worth keeping, and maybe the addition of Gray will free up some room. 

[walkerleeds]

It's a bit like when you're in a long term relationship and you know you should probably break up with them but don't want to let go, even though you know it's for the best.. 

[limeydale]

Well then we should get it over with and bench him for December, have make-up sex in January then put him back on and get on with it for the rest of season, then re-evaluate.

[Wymsey]

33 minutes ago, walkerleeds said:

It's a bit like when you're in a long term relationship and you know you should probably break up with them but don't want to let go, even though you know it's for the best.. 

[walkerleeds]

59 minutes ago, limeydale said:

Well then we should get it over with and bench him for December, have make-up sex in January then put him back on and get on with it for the rest of season, then re-evaluate.

 

Basically this yeah